The JUSTHEAT project (2021-2025) applied interdisciplinary methods (from across history, art, social science and built environment) to the study of domestic heating transitions.

Over 300 oral histories of heating gathered across the UK, Sweden, Finland and Romania paint a rich picture of the emotional, cultural, social, practical and political implications of home heating arrangements since 1945. These accounts show how heating change impacts in diverse ways across different places and has ramifications over many decades. The study yields key lessons for the current transition away from fossil fuelled heating, highlighting how community consent for transition can be engendered; how working with the grain of local cultures, histories and experiential preferences is crucial; revealing how some communities are more ready for transition than others and how the language we use to talk about transition really matters.

This one day event shares key international and national findings and art work from across the project and through interactive activities, allows delegates to translate and apply the learning to their own personal and professional circumstances.

Activities on the day are designed to promote knowledge exchange and to deeply consider heating change as a social, cultural and emotional proposition as well as a technical and economic one. The day culminates in the launch of a dedicated exhibition of art works produced by an international network of artists allied to the project in response to the oral histories gathered. The public exhibition launch will follow the conference.

The conference will be at Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus and the exhibition will be at the nearby Site Gallery.